My ebay shop is due to shut down in one week when the new prices come in. I'm so sad about this because it has been a source of some very interesting business for me. Many of my commissions have come through my ebay shop. I have thought hard about it but I can not justify keeping it open after the huge price hikes. All I want to do is run a small business but ebay does not make this easy, with all their rules and changes. Therefore after 18 months it will shut next week. I'm still going to list in the auction as as much as it hurts to say it I still need ebay business, but the shop will be no more.

I know this has been talked about a bit on here already, but just needed to write it down as I feel a but sad about it.:(

Caroleecrafts

18-09-2008, 11:00 AM

Have you tried www.folksy.com (http://www.craftsforum.co.uk/www.folksy.com) or www.youcraftylot.com (http://www.craftsforum.co.uk/www.youcraftylot.com)

I have tried both, admittedly with no results and have now concentrated on my own website. It may help you though.

I closed my ebay shop last year and know of several others both in the UK and USA who have done the same.

colourart

18-09-2008, 11:16 AM

Thanks for this.

I have a folksy shop, but its very early days. I opened it a few weeks ago. I need to add a few more paintings to it but its promising because I have seen it appear in google listings. That was the good things about ebay that my shop appeared on serach engines fairly often.

My website does generate business but I don't often get commissions that way. People seemed must more willing to ask questions through ebay, that is something I may have to address, just not sure how, although if I have a little more time I am planning a new site which may help with this.

I shall have to have another look at 'yourcraftylot'

colourart

18-09-2008, 11:21 AM

Just logged into Folksy and one of my paintings is on the home page, which is good, thats made me feel a bit more positive.:)

Caroleecrafts

18-09-2008, 11:26 AM

Well done for being on the home page, just another thought, do you blog? I blog every Monday and this is useful as it gets you to a wider audience.

colourart

18-09-2008, 11:29 AM

Yes, I do blog, but I'm not as good as you, I just do it from time to time.

Caroleecrafts

18-09-2008, 11:33 AM

I get to do it most Mondays as I am on the forum of http://www.makeminepink.com (http://www.makeminepink.com/) and this is something they do every Monday. It certainly encourages me to blog, I must admit I have missed a few weeks but not many their comments are also really helpful.

~Laura~

19-09-2008, 12:24 PM

sorry to hear about your ebay shop. the price rises are rediclous. You could always get a shop in belguim to save money. there prices are rising to 2 euros a month for a basic shop. if you list everything via ebay.co.uk no one will know. Only thing that will change is that when you go to manage the shop it'll all be in french, but its quite easy to work out.

Atm the price increase wont really effect me. After christmas though, i'm not sure what i'll do. I really dont want to close my shop, but i dont think i'd be able to break even, i didnt for months at the start of this year and i had to greatly reduce the amount of things im selling. Suppose its just another reason to sort my online shop out. Been sending out flyers with orders saying that its launching on the 1st november, so i better get a move on lol.

samigail

21-09-2008, 05:00 PM

have you tried ebid?
it is cheaper, friendlier and much more helpful
Fiona

colourart

21-09-2008, 05:27 PM

No I haven't tried ebid yet. I've had a look a few times, but I'm not sure how much sells through there.

Delta

21-09-2008, 05:39 PM

If you still have a list of all your ebay customers, then maybe send them all a news letter explaining that you are leaving ebay, and give them your website address etc, and even details of where you are selling elsewhere, it may induced them to move with you.

Steffi

21-09-2008, 05:41 PM

Hi Amanda

I'm sorry about your shop closing, I sell a few things on Ebay & was going to open a shop until I found about the new fees etc. Are you going to keep on listing on auctions? as I think with so many Ebay shops closing there will be less and less choice for buyers, and hopefully Ebay will rethink their new fees and lower them again (ever the optimist!).

colourart

21-09-2008, 07:00 PM

Hi Amanda

I'm sorry about your shop closing, I sell a few things on Ebay & was going to open a shop until I found about the new fees etc. Are you going to keep on listing on auctions? as I think with so many Ebay shops closing there will be less and less choice for buyers, and hopefully Ebay will rethink their new fees and lower them again (ever the optimist!).

I am listing still - yes. I can't afford to ditch ebay completely and I really enjoy the commission work I get through there. For the price of the shop I can list a fair amount each month and I do sell my work through the listings. I would like to think that ebay care about the little people leaving, but I'm pretty sure they don't.

GlamGlass

21-09-2008, 11:01 PM

I have just closed my shop on greedbay too and have moved my inventory to ebid!!
I got my sale yesterday (well my 1st bid) so sale is coming.
I feel that lots are leaving the greddy ones and are searching for new outlets!!

Fingers crossed all will work out in the end!!:)

dee_liteful

22-09-2008, 12:35 AM

:confused:I have just listed my first items for ages on ebay, i gave up a while a go as only sold one of my bags on it. But today i decided with christmas round the corner i would try again. What is ebid like? Does anyone do well out of it?

colourart

26-09-2008, 10:46 AM

Thanks for all your replies.

Just to update:

Shop is no more, despite a slight wobble earlier this week when I sold a painting through my shop and I thought should I really be doing this. Anyway decided today that I definately should be, but I have listed lots in the auction so I'm still confident I wont loose out too much and I will have more control over my costs. I can always open it again if I find that sales drop away completely.

SNOWF1975

26-09-2008, 11:28 AM

no-ones mentioned Dawanda yet. Do you know about it? And they are not charging any fee's just now. Iv been on it and sold quite a bit...... all fee free :D

p.s - sorry about your shop :mad: I didnt realise ebay will upping their fee's. Was it only for shops?

Fuchsia Fairy

12-10-2008, 06:47 PM

personally I've sold absolutely nothing through ebid in several months and desperately want to stop all my small listings on ebay but at the moment its driving all the traffic I've had to my own website so I know how you feel

Fuchsia Fairy

12-10-2008, 06:50 PM

personally I've sold absolutely nothing through ebid in several months and desperately want to stop all my small listings on ebay but at the moment its driving all the traffic I've had to my own website so I know how you feel - its frustrating and expensive!

gemwaithdebbie

12-10-2008, 07:47 PM

I am also sorry to hear about this. I didn't start an ebay shop because of their prices. I wouldn't have sold enough on ebay to justify the fees. I find that jewellery and cards do not sell well on ebay for me. As a matter of fact, I don't sell a lot at the moment. As I am just starting out I need to get known (can't post my website until I have 25 posts).

.... back to the ebay topic, perhaps they will reduce their fees in the future because of a lot of people closing their shops! Everyone should make a stand. In the meantime you could still sell on ebay auctions, so to attract traffic to your website. Sorry I can't help further (new to this)

BlueShedCrafts

12-10-2008, 07:52 PM

What about Etsy?

I have had a shop on there for eighteen months now and I love it! I'm also with Pink Doodle which is UK based and Folksy too but I love Etsy the best. It's US based and you have to work in USD but it's well worth a look if you haven't done so already.

Rachael

UrbanAngelJewellery

13-10-2008, 01:05 PM

Ebay is my pet peeve!!

I have shut my ebay shop too for the same reasons and am now looking at fairs and I launched my own website. I am also gonna try Dawanda nothing to loose there ;)

Katianne

10-11-2008, 02:42 PM

Sorry to hear about your shop Colourart.

I shut mine over the summer and as you've read was hoping to open it again now I'm getting back on track with my mosaics. Ebay was really good for me as I tried selling on etsy, through my own website and at craft fairs with little success, but with Ebay I got a lot of interest and sales.

I haven't managed to find other threads on this so far - I've missed a lot so there's a lot to read through, but from going on ebay I see the shop price has gpne from £6 to £14.99! No idea of the insertion and final value fees have changed as I can't find anything on that. I've seen a few other posts with tips on how to sell online so I will be reading with great interest. I know ebay wasn't for a lot of people but it did serve me well. Shame!

Aviya Glass

10-11-2008, 03:09 PM

No I haven't tried ebid yet. I've had a look a few times, but I'm not sure how much sells through there.

Ebid could easily become the new ebay if so many people find it too expensive to maintain an ebay shop. Perhaps you could tell people you are moving to ebid (if you do) then they will find a similar format that they are comfortable with and you continue to get the enquiries you enjoy.

I too had an ebay shop, it was successful but with so many fees shop/final value/paypal etc I closed.

I have only heard about ebid here so its not that well known but maybe all crafty bloggers and ebay shunners can spread the word! :mf:

Wish you all the best with your decision and your new way forward ;)

Bath-Bomb.Com

10-11-2008, 04:07 PM

Hi All,

What doesn't seem to have been mentioned is that Ebay have also changed the way searches are performed and what results appear. I was worried about the changes in fees - it's now cheaper to list but there are higher final value fees and the price of having a shop went up.

I read a lot of the info from Ebay and decided to try and make it work for me - I upgraded my subscription to a Featue shop (costs £49.99 per month!) and listed twice as many items in my shop (it now costs the same to list 1 BIN as it does 100 i.e. 5p). I still do auction listings just to generate a bit of interest.

My sales have doubled since the end of September so I think I was right to take the risk but it does occur to me that the new listing/fee policy is geared towards people selling a lot of the same things - which, clearly, doesn't benefit the craftperson who is making one-offs!

There's a lot said about Ebay shafting sellers and the high fees but IMHO it would cost me a lot more in marketing and advertisments to generate the kind of traffic that Ebay gives me - so I personally think it's worth it. I resisted opening an Ebay shop for ages but my website used to generate about £50 a month in sales and as soon as I opened an Ebay shop that steadily gew and grew.

Just thought I'd put another view point :)

creative-spirit

04-01-2009, 04:51 AM

I opened a shop on ebid a week or so before xmas and I am now starting to get a lot of hits on my jewellery items and am hopeful of a sale in this new year, having gone through the xmas period.

I think ebid is really going to take off this year, already they are the second largest auction site behind the main one, and many sellers from the main one are coming over to ebid and the buyers will soon be following as they find it harder and harder to find one off items on greedbay, I would reccomend ebid as a happy friendly, easy to use, cheap place to sell.

woodtattoos

04-01-2009, 12:19 PM

I opened a shop on ebid a week or so before xmas and I am now starting to get a lot of hits on my jewellery items and am hopeful of a sale in this new year, having gone through the xmas period.

I think ebid is really going to take off this year, already they are the second largest auction site behind the main one, and many sellers from the main one are coming over to ebid and the buyers will soon be following as they find it harder and harder to find one off items on greedbay, I would reccomend ebid as a happy friendly, easy to use, cheap place to sell.

Are you on commission? ;) :)

Glitter Fairy

01-10-2009, 02:12 PM

Hi

I myself have had the same problem pricing is far to high on ebay.

Have tried ebid but not very successfully.

Have just opened a MISI store similar to etsy but early days. I have my own website through Do your own website I pay less than £6.00 a month and it is all built in they do trial for 30 days so you can get used to the features.

Good Luck with it all. x x

Extra Special Touch Gifts

01-10-2009, 02:34 PM

What about Etsy?

I have had a shop on there for eighteen months now and I love it! I'm also with Pink Doodle which is UK based and Folksy too but I love Etsy the best. It's US based and you have to work in USD but it's well worth a look if you haven't done so already.

Rachael

Whats Pink Doodle?

PrincessPrudence

01-10-2009, 02:43 PM

I'm new to crafting and haven't sold anything yet... but I have opened an etsy shop in advance in the hope of making somethings to put in there in the New Year. I haven't done a lot with etsy... apart from buying lots of things from other sellers :) All I would say is that I buy a lot from there, and I know many other people who do, so I should imagine it generates a lot of traffic! Ebay is a bit of a pain... I only really use that for selling random stuff that I've been clearing out.

Leisure Time Collection

08-10-2009, 12:04 PM

What about having your own website?
Just uk google wahmcart
A WAHM Business Starter is £23.88 per year
that works out to £1.99 a month